0:00:03.070,0:00:10.070 Mr. Moderator, Reverend Cleage, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, and friends -- and I 0:00:14.209,0:00:21.209 see some enemies. In fact, I think we'd be fooling ourselves if we had an audience this 0:00:34.390,0:00:37.930 large and didn't realize that there were some enemies present. 0:00:37.930,0:00:44.930 This afternoon we want to talk about "The ballot or the bullet." The ballot or the bullet 0:00:48.120,0:00:55.120 explains itself. But before we get into it, since this is the year of the ballot or the 0:00:55.820,0:01:02.739 bullet, I would like to clarify some things that refer to me personally -- concerning 0:01:02.739,0:01:05.970 my own personal position. 0:01:05.970,0:01:12.970 I'm still a Muslim. That is, my religion is still Islam. My religion is still Islam. I 0:01:20.329,0:01:26.759 still credit Mr. Mohammed for what I know and what I am. He's the one who opened my 0:01:26.759,0:01:33.759 eyes. At present, I'm the Minister of the newly founded Muslim Mosque, Incorporated, 0:01:38.790,0:01:43.700 which has its offices in the Teresa Hotel, right in the heart of Harlem -- that's the 0:01:43.700,0:01:50.700 black belt in New York city. And when we realize that Adam Clayton Powell is a Christian minister, 0:01:54.189,0:01:59.520 he's the -- he heads Abyssinian Baptist Church, but at the same time, he's more famous for 0:01:59.520,0:02:01.259 his political struggling. 0:02:01.259,0:02:07.219 And Dr. King is a Christian Minister, in Atlanta -- from Atlanta Georgia -- or in Atlanta, 0:02:07.219,0:02:11.980 Georgia, but he's become more famous for being involved in the civil rights struggle. There's 0:02:11.980,0:02:17.960 another in New York, Reverend Galamison -- I don't know if you've heard of him out here 0:02:17.960,0:02:22.890 -- he's a Christian Minister from Brooklyn, but has become famous for his fight against 0:02:22.890,0:02:28.370 a segregated school system in Brooklyn. Reverend Cleage, right here, is a Christian Minister, 0:02:28.370,0:02:35.370 here in Detroit. He's the head of the "Freedom Now Party." All of these are Christian Ministers 0:02:41.780,0:02:43.710 -- All of these are Christian Ministers, but they don't come to us as Christian Ministers. 0:02:43.710,0:02:47.050 They come to us as fighters in some other category. 0:02:47.050,0:02:53.360 I'm a Muslim minister. The same as they are Christian Ministers, I'm a Muslim minister. 0:02:53.360,0:03:00.360 And I don't believe in fighting today in any one front, but on all fronts. In fact, I'm 0:03:02.900,0:03:09.900 a "Black Nationalist Freedom Fighter." Islam is my religion, but I believe my religion 0:03:19.770,0:03:26.770 is my personal business. It governs my personal life, my personal morals. And my religious 0:03:33.700,0:03:39.630 philosophy is personal between me and the God in whom I believe; just as the religious 0:03:39.630,0:03:44.220 philosophy of these others is between them and the God in whom they believe. 0:03:44.220,0:03:50.180 And this is best this way. Were we to come out here discussing religion, we'd have too 0:03:50.180,0:03:55.950 many differences from the outstart and we could never get together. So today, though 0:03:55.950,0:04:02.950 Islam is my religious philosophy, my political, economic, and social philosophy is Black Nationalism. 0:04:07.620,0:04:14.620 You and I -- As I say, if we bring up religion we'll have differences; we'll have arguments; 0:04:50.550,0:04:57.550 and we'll never be able to get together. But if we keep our religion at home, keep our 0:05:18.630,0:05:25.630 religion in the closet, keep our religion between ourselves and our God, but when we 0:06:01.780,0:06:08.780 come out here, we have a fight that's common to all of us against a [sic] enemy who is 0:06:40.389,0:06:47.389 common to all of us. 0:06:47.700,0:06:54.700 The political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that the black man should control 0:07:29.389,0:07:36.389 the politics and 0:07:53.530,0:08:00.530 the politicians in his own community. The -- The time -- The time when white people 0:08:22.800,0:08:29.800 can come in our community and get us to vote for them so that they can be our political 0:08:57.089,0:09:04.089 leaders and tell us what to do and what not to do is long gone. By the same token, the 0:09:11.450,0:09:18.450 time when that same white man, knowing that your eyes are too far open, can send another 0:09:45.820,0:09:52.820 negro into the community and get you and me to support him so he can use him to lead us 0:10:15.680,0:10:22.680 astray -- those days are long gone too. 0:10:28.670,0:10:35.670 The political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that if you and I are going to 0:10:46.370,0:10:53.370 live in a Black community -- and that's where we're going to live, 'cause as soon as you 0:11:02.990,0:11:09.990 move into one of their -- soon as you move out of the Black community into their community, 0:11:56.560,0:12:03.560 it's mixed for a period of time, but they're gone and you're right there all by yourself 0:12:30.200,0:12:37.200 again. We must -- We must understand the politics of our community and we must know what politics 0:13:24.980,0:13:31.980 is supposed to produce. We must know what part politics play in our lives. And until 0:14:12.910,0:14:19.910 we become politically mature we will always be mislead, lead astray, or deceived or maneuvered 0:14:57.850,0:15:04.850 into supporting someone politically who doesn't have the good of our community at heart. So 0:15:26.800,0:15:33.800 the political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we will have to carry on a 0:15:38.120,0:15:45.120 program, a political program, of re-education to open our people's eyes, make us become 0:15:48.220,0:15:55.220 more politically conscious, politically mature, and then we will -- whenever we get ready 0:16:06.870,0:16:13.870 to cast our ballot, that ballot will be -- will be cast for a man of the community who 0:16:36.930,0:16:42.470 has the good of the community of heart. 0:16:42.470,0:16:49.470 The economic philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we should own and operate 0:16:53.329,0:17:00.329 and control the economy of our community. You would never -- You can't open up a black 0:17:05.260,0:17:12.260 store in a white community. White men won't even patronize you. And he's not wrong. He's 0:17:12.439,0:17:19.439 got sense enough to look out for himself. You the one who don't have sense enough to 0:17:22.879,0:17:29.879 look out for yourself. The white man -- The white man is too intelligent to let someone 0:17:31.909,0:17:38.909 else come and gain control of the economy of his community. But you will let anybody 0:17:43.940,0:17:50.940 come in and take control of the economy of your community, control the housing, control 0:17:59.419,0:18:06.419 the education, control the jobs, control the businesses, under the pretext that you want 0:18:13.869,0:18:20.869 to integrate. No, you're out of your mind. 0:18:22.119,0:18:26.720 The political -- The economic philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we have 0:18:26.720,0:18:33.720 to become involved in a program of reeducation to educate our people into the importance 0:18:37.230,0:18:44.230 of knowing that when you spend your dollar out of the community in which you live, the 0:18:51.820,0:18:58.820 community in which you spend your money becomes richer and richer; the community out which 0:19:03.109,0:19:10.109 you take your money becomes poorer and poorer. And because these negroes, who have been mislead, 0:19:13.330,0:19:20.330 misguided, are breaking their necks to take their money and spend it with The Man, The 0:19:23.190,0:19:29.289 Man is becoming richer and richer, and you're becoming poorer and poorer. And then what 0:19:29.289,0:19:36.289 happens? The community in which you live becomes a slum. It becomes a ghetto. The conditions 0:19:38.600,0:19:45.559 become run down. And then you have the audacity to -- to complain about poor housing in a 0:19:45.559,0:19:52.489 run-down community. Why you run it down yourself when you take your dollar out. 0:19:52.489,0:19:59.489 And you and I are in a double-track, because not only do we lose by taking our money someplace 0:20:01.809,0:20:07.220 else and spending it, when we try and spend it in our own community we're trapped because 0:20:07.220,0:20:13.710 we haven't had sense enough to set up stores and control the businesses of our community. 0:20:13.710,0:20:20.710 The man who's controlling the stores in our community is a man who doesn't look like we 0:20:41.710,0:20:48.710 do. He's a man who doesn't even live in the community. So you and I, even when we try 0:21:14.679,0:21:21.679 and spend our money in the block where we live or the area where we live, we're spending 0:21:27.409,0:21:34.409 it with a man who, when the sun goes down, takes that basket full of money in another 0:21:46.440,0:21:50.139 part of the town. 0:21:50.139,0:21:56.509 So we're trapped, trapped, double-trapped, triple-trapped. Anywhere we go we find that 0:21:56.509,0:22:03.159 we're trapped. And every kind of solution that someone comes up with is just another 0:22:03.159,0:22:05.729 trap. But the political and economic philosophy of Black Nationalism -- the economic philosophy 0:22:05.729,0:22:11.629 of Black Nationalism shows our people the importance of setting up these little stores 0:22:11.629,0:22:18.629 and developing them and expanding them into larger operations. Woolworth didn't start 0:22:18.779,0:22:25.779 out big like they are today. They started out with a dime store and expanded and expanded 0:22:29.960,0:22:36.960 and then expanded until today, they're are all over the country and all over the world, 0:22:39.129,0:22:43.409 and they get to some of everybody's money. Now this is what you and I -- General Motors 0:22:43.409,0:22:50.409 [is] the same way. They didn't start out like it is. It started out just a little rat race 0:22:51.659,0:22:58.659 type operation. And it expanded and it expanded until today it's where it is right now. And 0:23:02.609,0:23:09.609 you and I have to make a start and the best place to start is right in the community where 0:23:16.119,0:23:17.759 we live. 0:23:17.759,0:23:24.759 So our people not only have to be reeducated to the importance of supporting black business, 0:23:30.909,0:23:37.909 but the black man himself has to be made aware of the importance of going into business. 0:23:49.669,0:23:56.669 And once you and I go into business, we own and operate at least the businesses in our 0:24:08.289,0:24:15.289 community. What we will be doing is developing a situation wherein we will actually be able 0:24:26.799,0:24:33.020 to create employment for the people in the community. And once you can create some -- 0:24:33.020,0:24:37.629 some employment in the community where you live it will eliminate the necessity of you 0:24:37.629,0:24:44.629 and me having to act ignorantly and disgracefully, boycotting and picketing some "cracker" some 0:24:48.470,0:24:51.769 place else trying to beg him for a job. 0:24:51.769,0:24:57.340 Anytime you have to rely upon your enemy for a job, you're in bad shape. When you have 0:24:57.340,0:25:02.669 -- He is your enemy. Let me tell you, you wouldn't be in this country if some enemy 0:25:02.669,0:25:09.669 hadn't kidnapped you and brought you here. On the other hand, some of you think you came 0:25:15.599,0:25:17.720 here on the Mayflower. 0:25:17.720,0:25:24.720 So as you can see brothers and sisters, today -- this afternoon, it's not our intention 0:25:29.979,0:25:36.979 to discuss religion. We're going to forget religion. If we bring up religion, we'll be 0:25:39.470,0:25:46.470 in an argument, and the best way to keep away from arguments and differences, as I said 0:25:47.669,0:25:54.669 earlier, put your religion at home -- in the closet. Keep it between you and your God. 0:25:59.129,0:26:06.129 Because if it hasn't done anything more for you than it has, you need to forget it anyway. 0:26:06.460,0:26:13.460 Whether you are -- Whether you are a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Nationalist, we all have 0:26:13.599,0:26:19.340 the same problem. They don't hang you because you're a Baptist; they hang you 'cause you're 0:26:19.340,0:26:26.340 black. They don't attack me because I'm a Muslim; they attack me 'cause I'm black. They 0:26:27.320,0:26:34.320 attack all of us for the same reason; all of us catch hell from the same enemy. We're 0:26:36.289,0:26:43.289 all in the same bag, in the same boat. We suffer political oppression, economic exploitation, 0:26:51.299,0:26:55.599 and social degradation -- all of them from the same enemy. The government has failed 0:26:55.599,0:27:02.599 us; you can't deny that. Anytime you live in the twentieth century, 1964, and you walkin' 0:27:07.129,0:27:14.129 around here singing "We Shall Overcome," the government has failed us. 0:27:22.320,0:27:29.320 This is part of what's wrong with you -- you do too much singing. Today it's time to 0:27:34.190,0:27:41.190 stop singing and start swinging. You can't sing up on freedom, but you can swing up on 0:27:41.259,0:27:47.679 some freedom. Cassius Clay can sing, but singing didn't help him to become the heavyweight 0:27:47.679,0:27:50.309 champion of the world; swinging helped him become the heavyweight champion. This government 0:27:50.309,0:27:55.249 has failed us; the government itself has failed us, and the white liberals who have been posing 0:27:55.249,0:27:57.210 as our friends have failed us. 0:27:57.210,0:28:03.679 And once we see that all these other sources to which we've turned have failed, we stop 0:28:03.679,0:28:10.679 turning to them and turn to ourselves. We need a self help program, a do-it -- a-do-it-yourself 0:28:13.159,0:28:19.659 philosophy, a do-it-right-now philosophy, a it's-already-too-late philosophy. This is 0:28:19.659,0:28:26.659 what you and I need to get with, and the only time -- the only way we're going to solve 0:28:34.999,0:28:41.509 our problem is with a self-help program. Before we can get a self-help program started we 0:28:41.509,0:28:43.960 have to have a self-help philosophy. 0:28:43.960,0:28:49.840 Black Nationalism is a self-help philosophy. What's so good about it? You can stay right 0:28:49.840,0:28:56.279 in the church where you are and still take Black Nationalism as your philosophy. You 0:28:56.279,0:29:02.619 can stay in any kind of civic organization that you belong to and still take black nationalism 0:29:02.619,0:29:08.149 as your philosophy. You can be an atheist and still take black nationalism as your philosophy. 0:29:08.149,0:29:11.859 This is a philosophy that eliminates the necessity for division and argument. 'Cause if you're 0:29:11.859,0:29:18.859 black you should be thinking black, and if you are black and you not thinking black at 0:29:25.099,0:29:31.580 this late date, well I'm sorry for you. 0:29:31.580,0:29:38.580 Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your 0:29:42.909,0:29:49.909 thought pattern, you change your -- your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes 0:29:54.249,0:30:00.519 your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action. As long as you gotta sit-down 0:30:00.519,0:30:07.519 philosophy, you'll have a sit-down thought pattern, and as long as you think that old 0:30:12.559,0:30:17.399 sit-down thought you'll be in some kind of sit-down action. They'll have you sitting 0:30:17.399,0:30:22.749 in everywhere. It's not so good to refer to what you're going to do as a "sit-in." That 0:30:22.749,0:30:29.749 right there castrates you. Right there it brings you down. What -- What goes with it? 0:30:39.899,0:30:46.899 What -- Think of the image of a someone sitting. An old woman can sit. An old man can sit. 0:30:47.109,0:30:54.109 A chump can sit. A coward can sit. Anything can sit. Well you and I been sitting long 0:30:56.119,0:31:02.349 enough, and it's time today for us to start doing some standing, and some fighting to 0:31:02.349,0:31:03.859 back that up. 0:31:03.859,0:31:10.859 When we look like -- at other parts of this earth upon which we live, we find that black, 0:31:16.539,0:31:22.409 brown, red, and yellow people in Africa and Asia are getting their independence. They're 0:31:22.409,0:31:28.219 not getting it by singing "We Shall Overcome." No, they're getting it through nationalism. 0:31:28.219,0:31:35.219 It is nationalism that brought about the independence of the people in Asia. Every nation in Asia 0:31:35.679,0:31:42.679 gained its independence through the philosophy of nationalism. Every nation on the African 0:31:44.899,0:31:51.899 continent that has gotten its independence brought it about through the philosophy of 0:31:58.119,0:32:05.119 nationalism. And it will take black nationalism -- that to bring about the freedom of 22 0:32:09.929,0:32:11.239 million Afro-Americans here in this country where we have suffered colonialism for the 0:32:11.239,0:32:15.659 past 400 years. 0:32:15.659,0:32:22.659 America is just as much a colonial power as England ever was. America is just as much 0:32:35.909,0:32:42.909 a colonial power as France ever was. In fact, America is more so a colonial power than they 0:32:48.399,0:32:55.399 because she's a hypocritical colonial power behind it. 0:32:59.210,0:33:06.210 What is 20th -- What do you call second class citizenship? Why, that's colonization. Second 0:33:17.339,0:33:24.339 class citizenship is nothing but 20th century slavery. How you gonna tell me you're a second 0:33:31.249,0:33:38.249 class citizen? They don't have second class citizenship in any other government on this 0:33:39.259,0:33:46.259 earth. They just have slaves and people who are free. Well this country is a hypocrite. 0:33:54.619,0:34:01.619 They try and make you think they set you free by calling you a second class citizen. No, 0:34:21.470,0:34:28.470 you're nothing but a 20th century slave. 0:34:30.190,0:34:34.260 Just as it took nationalism to move -- to remove colonialism from Asia and Africa, it'll 0:34:34.260,0:34:39.770 take black nationalism today to remove colonialism from the backs and the minds of 22 million 0:34:39.770,0:34:40.760 Afro-Americans here in this country. 0:34:40.760,0:34:47.760 And 1964 looks like it might be the year of the ballot or the bullet. 0:34:49.070,0:34:56.070 Why does it look like it might be the year of the ballot or the bullet? Because Negroes 0:34:56.850,0:35:02.690 have listened to the trickery, and the lies, and the false promises of the white man now 0:35:02.690,0:35:09.690 for too long. And they're fed up. They've become disenchanted. They've become disillusioned. 0:35:11.680,0:35:18.680 They've become dissatisfied, and all of this has built up frustrations in the black community 0:35:22.380,0:35:27.360 that makes the black community throughout America today more explosive than all of the 0:35:27.360,0:35:34.360 atomic bombs the Russians can ever invent. Whenever you got a racial powder keg sitting 0:35:41.850,0:35:48.850 in your lap, you're in more trouble than if you had an atomic powder keg sitting in your 0:35:55.240,0:36:02.060 lap. When a racial powder keg goes off, it doesn't care who it knocks out the way. Understand 0:36:02.060,0:36:04.340 this, it's dangerous. 0:36:04.340,0:36:11.340 And in 1964 this seems to be the year, because what can the white man use now to fool us 0:36:19.020,0:36:26.020 after he put down that march on Washington? And you see all through that now. He tricked 0:36:29.320,0:36:36.320 you, had you marching down to Washington. Yes, had you marching back and forth between 0:36:39.490,0:36:46.490 the feet of a dead man named Lincoln and another dead man named George Washington singing "We 0:36:48.450,0:36:55.450 Shall Overcome." He made a chump out of you. He made a fool out of you. He made you think 0:37:05.160,0:37:12.160 you were going somewhere and you end up going nowhere but between Lincoln and Washington. 0:37:27.300,0:37:33.050 So today, our people are disillusioned. They've become disenchanted. They've become dissatisfied, 0:37:33.050,0:37:40.050 and in their frustrations they want action. 0:37:44.080,0:37:51.080 And in 1964 you'll see this young black man, this new generation asking for the ballot 0:37:53.240,0:38:00.240 or the bullet. That old Uncle Tom action is outdated. The young generation don't want 0:38:01.570,0:38:08.570 to hear anything about the odds are against us. What do we care about odds? 0:38:11.170,0:38:18.170 When this country here was first being founded there were 13 colonies. The -- The whites 0:38:25.270,0:38:32.270 were colonized. They were fed up with this taxation without representation, so some of 0:38:43.770,0:38:50.770 them stood up and said "liberty or death." Though I went to a white school over here 0:39:10.540,0:39:17.540 in Mason, Michigan, the white man made the mistake of letting me read his history books. 0:39:21.570,0:39:28.570 He made the mistake of teaching me that Patrick Henry was a patriot, and George Washington, 0:39:34.560,0:39:41.560 wasn't nothing non-violent about old Pat or George Washington. 0:39:43.850,0:39:50.850 Liberty or death was what brought about the freedom of whites in this country from the 0:40:04.890,0:40:11.890 English. They didn't care about the odds. Why they faced the wrath of the entire British 0:40:18.830,0:40:25.830 Empire. And in those days they used to say that the British Empire was so vast and so 0:40:27.910,0:40:34.910 powerful when the sun -- the sun would never set on it. This is how big it was, yet these 0:40:37.130,0:40:44.130 13 little scrawny states, tired of taxation without representation, tired of being exploited 0:40:45.600,0:40:50.460 and oppressed and degraded, told that big British Empire "liberty or death." 0:40:50.460,0:40:56.540 And here you have 22 million Afro-American black people today catching more hell than 0:40:56.540,0:41:03.540 Patrick Henry ever saw. And I'm -- I'm here to tell you in case you don't know it -- 0:41:22.100,0:41:29.100 that you got a new -- you got a new generation of black people in this country who don't 0:41:33.640,0:41:40.640 care anything whatsoever about odds. They don't want to hear you old Uncle Tom handkerchief 0:41:49.680,0:41:56.680 heads talking about the odds. No. This is a new generation. If they're gonna draft these 0:42:05.190,0:42:12.190 young black men and send them over to Korea or South Vietnam to face 800 million Chinese 0:42:15.799,0:42:22.799 -- if you're not afraid of those odds, you shouldn't be afraid of these odds. 0:42:25.210,0:42:32.210 Why is -- Why does this loom to be such an explosive political year? Because this is 0:42:45.550,0:42:52.550 the year of politics. This is the year when all of the white politicians are going to 0:43:03.360,0:43:10.360 come into the Negro community. You never see them until election time. You can't find them 0:43:20.880,0:43:27.880 until election time. They're going to come in with false promises, and as they make these 0:44:02.820,0:44:09.820 false promises they're gonna feed our frustrations and this will only serve to make matters worse. 0:44:43.730,0:44:50.730 I'm no politician. I'm not even a student of politics. I'm not a Republican, nor a Democrat, 0:44:50.930,0:44:57.930 nor an American, and got sense enough to know it. I'm one of the 22 million black victims 0:45:02.930,0:45:08.430 of the Democrats, one of the 22 million black victims of the Republicans, and one of the 0:45:08.430,0:45:15.430 22 million black victims of Americanism. And when I speak, I don't speak as a Democrat, 0:45:19.600,0:45:26.600 or a Republican, *nor an American.* I speak as a victim of America's so-called democracy. 0:45:33.200,0:45:40.200 You and I have never seen democracy; all we've seen is hypocrisy. When we open our eyes today 0:45:55.690,0:46:02.690 and look around America, we see America not through the eyes of someone who have -- who 0:46:10.230,0:46:17.230 has enjoyed the fruits of Americanism, we see America through the eyes of someone who 0:46:20.200,0:46:27.200 has been the victim of Americanism. We don't see any American dream; we've experienced 0:46:32.680,0:46:39.680 only the American nightmare. We haven't benefited from America's democracy; we've only suffered 0:46:47.200,0:46:54.200 from America's hypocrisy. And the generation that's coming up now can see it and are not 0:47:00.560,0:47:01.950 afraid to say it. 0:47:01.950,0:47:08.950 If you -- If you go to jail, so what? If you black, you were born in jail. If you black, 0:47:17.380,0:47:24.380 you were born in jail, in the North as well as the South. Stop talking about the South. 0:47:29.570,0:47:36.570 Long as you south of the -- Long as you south of the Canadian border, you're south. Don't 0:48:11.140,0:48:18.140 call Governor Wallace a Dixie governor; Romney is a Dixie governor. 0:48:30.040,0:48:37.040 Twenty-two million black victims of Americanism are waking up and they're gaining a new political 0:48:53.370,0:49:00.370 consciousness, becoming politically mature. And as they become -- develop this political 0:49:02.600,0:49:09.600 maturity, they're able to see the recent trends in these political elections. They see that 0:49:10.770,0:49:17.770 the whites are so evenly divided that every time they vote the race is so close they have 0:49:17.950,0:49:24.950 to go back and count the votes all over again. And that...which means that any block, any 0:49:25.190,0:49:32.190 minority that has a block of votes that stick together is in a strategic position. Either 0:49:39.980,0:49:46.220 way you go, that's who gets it. You're -- You're in a position to determine who will 0:49:46.220,0:49:53.220 go to the White House and who will stay in the dog house. You're the one who has that 0:49:53.960,0:50:00.960 power. You can keep Johnson in Washington D.C., or you can send him back to his Texas 0:50:02.680,0:50:09.680 cotton patch. You're the one who sent Kennedy to Washington. You're the one who put the 0:50:09.920,0:50:16.920 present Democratic Administration in Washington D.C. The whites were evenly divided. It was 0:50:17.330,0:50:20.230 the fact that you threw 80 percent of your votes behind the Democrats that put the Democrats 0:50:20.230,0:50:20.820 in the White House. 0:50:20.820,0:50:27.820 When you see this, you can see that the Negro vote is the key factor. And despite the fact 0:50:32.130,0:50:39.130 that you are in a position to -- to be the determining factor, what do you get out of 0:50:49.890,0:50:51.230 it? The Democrats have been in Washington D.C. only because of the Negro vote. They've 0:50:51.230,0:50:52.160 been down there four years, and they're -- all other legislation they wanted to bring 0:50:52.160,0:50:57.240 up they brought it up and gotten it out of the way, and now they bring up you. And now, 0:50:57.240,0:51:04.240 they bring up you. You put them first, and they put you last, 'cause you're a chump, 0:51:10.720,0:51:10.970 a political chump. 0:51:10.810,0:51:11.470 In Washington D.C., in the House of Representatives, there are 257 who are Democrats; only 177 0:51:11.470,0:51:12.200 are Republican. In the Senate there are 67 Democrats; only 33 are Republicans. The Party 0:51:12.200,0:51:13.350 that you backed controls two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and 0:51:13.350,0:51:14.940 still they can't keep their promise to you, 'cause you're a chump. Anytime you throw your 0:51:14.940,0:51:17.490 weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that Party 0:51:17.490,0:51:17.740 can't keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you're dumb enough 0:51:17.670,0:51:17.920 to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that Party, you're not only a chump, 0:51:17.760,0:51:18.010 but you're a traitor to your race. 0:51:17.960,0:51:18.500 And what kind of alibi do they come up with? They try and pass the buck to the Dixiecrats. 0:51:18.500,0:51:20.550 Now back during the days when you were blind, deaf, and dumb, ignorant, politically immature, 0:51:20.550,0:51:21.430 naturally you went along with that. But today as your eyes come open, and you develop political 0:51:21.430,0:51:22.870 maturity, you're able to see and think for yourself, and you can see that a Dixiecrat 0:51:22.870,0:51:24.550 is nothing but a Democrat in disguise. 0:51:24.550,0:51:28.940 You look at the structure of the government that controls this country; it's controlled 0:51:28.940,0:51:34.290 by 16 senatorial committees and 20 congressional committees. Of the 16 senatorial committees 0:51:34.290,0:51:41.130 that run the government, 10 of them are in the hands of Southern segregationists. Of 0:51:41.130,0:51:42.390 the 20 congressional committees that run the government, 12 of them in the -- are in the 0:51:42.390,0:51:44.930 hands of Southern segregationists. And they're going to tell you and me that the South lost 0:51:44.930,0:51:45.250 the war. 0:51:45.250,0:51:47.550 You, today, have -- are in the hands of a government of segregationists, racists, white 0:51:47.550,0:51:50.220 supremacists who belong to the Democratic party, but disguise themselves as Dixiecrats. 0:51:50.220,0:51:54.570 A Dixiecrat is nothing but a Democrat. Whoever runs the Democrats is also the father of the 0:51:54.570,0:52:01.570 Dixiecrats, and the father of all of them is sitting in the White House. I say and I 0:52:04.460,0:52:08.090 say it again: You got a President who's nothing but a Southern segregationist from the state 0:52:08.090,0:52:10.410 of Texas. They'll lynch you in Texas as quick as they'll lynch you in Mississippi. Only 0:52:10.410,0:52:13.840 in -- in Texas they lynch you with a Texas accent; in Mississippi they lynch you with 0:52:13.840,0:52:14.300 a Mississippi accent. 0:52:14.300,0:52:14.550 And the first thing the cracker does when he comes in power, he takes all the Negro 0:52:14.540,0:52:14.790 leaders and invites them for coffee to show that he's alright. And those Uncle Toms can't 0:52:14.640,0:52:14.890 pass up the coffee. They come away from the coffee table telling you and me that this 0:52:14.740,0:52:17.880 man is alright 'cause he's from the South, and since he's from the South he can deal 0:52:17.880,0:52:20.120 with the South. Look at the logic that they're using. What about Eastland? He's from the 0:52:20.120,0:52:23.660 South. Make him the President. He can -- If Johnson is a good man 'cause he's from 0:52:23.660,0:52:29.740 Texas, and being from Texas will enable him to deal with the South, Eastland can deal 0:52:29.740,0:52:33.510 with the South better than Johnson. Oh, I say you been mislead. You been had. You been 0:52:33.510,0:52:33.760 took. 0:52:33.650,0:52:35.220 I was in Washington a couple weeks ago while the Senators were filibustering, and I noticed 0:52:35.220,0:52:38.390 in the back of the Senate a huge map, and on this map it showed the distribution of 0:52:38.390,0:52:39.710 Negroes in America, and surprisingly the same Senators that were involved in the filibuster 0:52:39.710,0:52:41.040 were from the states where there were the most Negroes. Why were they filibustering 0:52:41.040,0:52:42.270 the civil rights legislation? Because the civil rights legislation is supposed to guarantee 0:52:42.270,0:52:43.230 voting rights to Negroes in those states, and those senators from those states know 0:52:43.230,0:52:44.190 that if the Negroes in those states can vote, those senators are down the drain. The Representatives 0:52:44.190,0:52:45.040 of those states go down the drain. And in the Constitution of this country it has a 0:52:45.040,0:52:45.740 stipulation wherein whenever the rights, the voting rights, of people in a certain district 0:52:45.740,0:52:46.510 are violated, then the Representative who -- who's from that particular district, according 0:52:46.510,0:52:46.840 to the Constitution, is supposed to be expelled from the Congress. Now, if this particular 0:52:46.840,0:52:47.150 aspect of the Constitution was enforced, why you wouldn't have a cracker in Washington 0:52:47.150,0:52:54.150 D.C. But what would happen when you expel the Dixiecrat, you're expelling the Democrat. 0:53:03.190,0:53:06.900 When you destroy the power of the Dixiecrat, you're destroying the power -- power of the 0:53:06.900,0:53:07.150 Democratic Party. So how in the world can the Democratic Party in the South actually 0:53:06.950,0:53:08.390 side with you in sincerity, when all of its power is based in the -- in the South? 0:53:08.390,0:53:10.020 These Northern Democrats are in cahoots with the Southern Democrats. They're playing a 0:53:10.020,0:53:12.280 giant con game, a political con game. You know how it goes. One of them -- One of them 0:53:12.280,0:53:14.040 comes to you and makes believe he's for you, and he's in cahoots with the other one that's 0:53:14.040,0:53:15.130 not for you. Why? Because neither one of them is for you, but they got to make you go with 0:53:15.130,0:53:15.600 one of them or the other. So this is a con game. And this is what they've been doing 0:53:15.600,0:53:15.920 with you and me all these years. 0:53:15.920,0:53:16.170 First thing Johnson got off the plane when he become President, he asked "Where's Dicky?" 0:53:15.920,0:53:16.170 You know who "Dicky" is? Dicky is old Southern cracker Richard -- Richard Russell. Look here, 0:53:15.920,0:53:16.170 yes. Lyndon B. Johnson's best friend is the one who is the head, who's heading the forces 0:53:15.920,0:53:16.170 that are filibustering civil rights legislation. You tell me how in the hell is he going to 0:53:15.920,0:53:16.170 be Johnson's best friend? How can Johnson be his friend and your friend too? No, that 0:53:15.920,0:53:16.170 man is too tricky. Especially if his friend is still old Dicky. 0:53:15.920,0:53:16.170 Whenever the Negroes keep the Democrats in power, they're keeping the Dixiecrats in power. 0:53:15.920,0:53:16.720 Is this true? A vote for a Democrat is nothing but a vote for a Dixiecrat. I know you don't 0:53:16.720,0:53:17.590 like me saying that, but I...I'm not the kind of person who come here to say what you like. 0:53:17.590,0:53:17.990 I'm going to tell you the truth whether you like it or not. 0:53:17.990,0:53:18.510 Up here, in the North you have the same thing. The Democratic Party don't -- don't do it 0:53:18.510,0:53:18.960 -- they don't do it that way. They got a thing that they call gerrymandering. They 0:53:18.960,0:53:19.480 -- They maneuver you out of power. Even though you can vote, they fix it so you're voting 0:53:19.480,0:53:19.850 for nobody; they got you going and coming. In the South, they're outright political wolves. 0:53:19.850,0:53:20.100 In the North, they're political foxes. A fox and a wolf are both canine, both belong to 0:53:19.850,0:53:20.100 the dog family. Now you take your choice. You going to choose a Northern dog or a Southern 0:53:19.850,0:53:20.210 dog? Because either dog you choose I guarantee you you'll still be in the dog house. 0:53:20.210,0:53:20.980 This is why I say it's the ballot or the bullet. It's liberty or it's death. It's freedom for 0:53:20.980,0:53:21.550 everybody or freedom for nobody. America today finds herself in a unique situation. Historically, 0:53:21.550,0:53:22.110 revolutions are bloody. Oh, yes, they are. They haven't never had a blood-less revolution, 0:53:22.110,0:53:22.720 or a non-violent revolution. That don't happen even in Hollywood. You don't have a revolution 0:53:22.720,0:53:23.690 in which you love your enemy, and you don't have a revolution in which you are begging 0:53:23.690,0:53:24.950 the system of exploitation to integrate you into it. Revolutions overturn systems. Revolutions 0:53:24.950,0:53:25.200 destroy systems. 0:53:25.160,0:53:26.400 A revolution is bloody, but America is in a unique position. She's the only country 0:53:26.400,0:53:26.650 in history in a position actually to become involved in a blood-less revolution. The 0:53:26.540,0:53:26.790 -- The Russian revolution was bloody; Chinese revolution was bloody; French revolution was 0:53:26.660,0:53:26.910 bloody; Cuban revolution was bloody; and there was nothing more bloody then the American 0:53:26.800,0:53:27.050 Revolution. But today this country can become involved in a revolution that won't take bloodshed. 0:53:26.950,0:53:27.200 All she's got to do is give the black man in this country everything that's due him 0:53:27.120,0:53:27.370 -- everything. 0:53:27.130,0:53:27.640 I hope that the white man can see this, 'cause if he don't see it you're finished. If you 0:53:27.640,0:53:28.600 don't see it you're going to be coming -- you're going to become involved in some action 0:53:28.600,0:53:28.850 in which you don't have a chance. And we don't care anything about your atomic bomb; it's 0:53:28.600,0:53:28.850 -- it's useless because other countries have atomic bombs. When two or three different 0:53:28.600,0:53:29.080 countries have atomic bombs, nobody can use them, so it means that the white man today 0:53:29.080,0:53:29.560 is without a weapon. If you're gonna -- If you want some action, you gotta come on down 0:53:29.560,0:53:29.810 to Earth. And there's more black people on Earth than there are white people on Earth. 0:53:29.790,0:53:30.040 I only got a couple more minutes. The white man can never win another war on the ground. 0:53:29.800,0:53:30.050 His days of war, victory, his great -- his days of that ground victory are over. Can 0:53:29.800,0:53:30.050 I prove it? Yes. Take all the action that's going on on this earth right now that he's 0:53:29.810,0:53:30.060 involved in. Tell me where he's winning. Nowhere. 0:53:29.810,0:53:30.060 Why some rice farmers -- some rice farmers -- some rice eaters ran him out of Korea. 0:53:29.810,0:53:30.060 Yes, they ran him out of Korea. Rice eaters with nothing but gym shoes and a rifle and 0:53:29.820,0:53:30.070 a bowl of rice took him and his tanks and his napalm and all that other action he's 0:53:29.820,0:53:30.070 supposed to have and ran him across the Yalu. Why? 'Cause the day that he can win on the 0:53:29.830,0:53:30.080 ground has passed. 0:53:29.830,0:53:30.080 Up in French Indo-China those little peasants, rice growers, took on the might of the French 0:53:29.830,0:53:30.080 army and ran all the Frenchmen -- you remember Dien Bien Phu. No. 0:53:29.830,0:53:30.080 `The same thing happened in Algeria, in Africa. They didn't have anything but a rifle. The 0:53:29.840,0:53:30.090 French had all these highly mechanized instruments of warfare, but they put some guerilla action 0:53:29.840,0:53:30.090 on, and a -- and a -- and a white man can't fight a guerilla warfare. Guerilla action 0:53:29.850,0:53:30.100 takes heart, takes nerve, and he doesn't have that. He's brave when he's got tanks. He's 0:53:29.850,0:53:30.100 brave when he's got planes. He's brave when he's got bombs. He's brave when he got a whole 0:53:29.850,0:53:30.100 lot of company along with him, but you take that little man from Africa and Asia, turn 0:53:29.860,0:53:30.110 him loose in the woods with a blade, with a blade -- that's all he needs, all he needs 0:53:29.860,0:53:30.110 is a blade ­- and when the sun comes down -- goes down and it's dark, it's even-steven. 0:53:29.870,0:53:30.120 So it's the -- it's the ballot or the bullet. Today our people can see that we're faced 0:53:29.870,0:53:30.120 with a government conspiracy. This government has failed us. The senators who are filibustering 0:53:29.870,0:53:30.120 concerning your and my rights, that's the government. Don't say it's Southern senators. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 This is the government; this is a government filibuster. It's not a segregationist filibuster. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 It's a government filibuster. Any kind of activity that takes place on the floor of 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 the Congress or the Senate, that's the government. Any kind of dilly-dallying, that's the government. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 Any kind of pussy-footing, that's the government. Any kind of act that's designed to delay or 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 deprive you and me right now of getting full rights, that's the government that's responsible. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 And any time you find the government involved in a conspiracy to violate the citizenship 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 or the civil rights of a people, then you are wasting your time going to that government 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 expecting redress. Instead, you have to take that government to the World Court and accuse 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 it of genocide and all of the other crimes that it is guilty of today. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 So those of us whose political, and economic, and social philosophy is Black Nationalism 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 have become involved in the civil rights struggle. We have injected ourselves into the civil 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 rights struggle, and we intend to expand it from the level of civil rights to the level 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 of human rights. As long as you're -- As long as you're fighting on the level of civil rights, 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 you're under Uncle Sam's jurisdiction. You're going to his court expecting him to correct 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 the problem. He created the problem. He's the criminal. You don't take your case to 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 the criminal; you take your criminal to court. When the government of South Africa began 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 to trample upon the human rights of the people of South Africa, they were taken to the U.N. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 When the government of Portugal began to trample upon the -- the rights of our brothers and 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 sisters in Angola, it was taken before the U.N. Why even the white man took the Hungarian 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 question to the U.N. And just this week Chief Justice Goldberg was crying over 3 million 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 Jews in Russia about their human rights, charging Russia with violating the U.N. charter because 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 of its mistreatment of the human rights of Jews in Russia. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 Now you tell me how can the plight of everybody on this earth reach the halls of the United 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 Nations, and you have 22 million Afro-Americans whose churches are being bombed, whose little 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 girls are being murdered, whose -- whose leaders are being shot down in broad daylight. Now 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 you tell me why the leaders of this struggle have never taken it before the United Nations. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 So our next move is to take the entire civil rights struggle problem into the United Nations 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 and let the world see that Uncle Sam is guilty of violating the human rights of 22 million 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 Afro-Americans.... 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 [short audio gap...content uncertain] 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 [Uncle Sam...] and still has the audacity or the nerve to stand up and represent himself 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 as the leader of the free world. Not only is he a crook, he's a hypocrite. There he 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 is standing up in front of other people, Uncle Sam, with the blood of your and mine mothers 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 and fathers on his hands, with the blood dripping down his jaws like a bloody-jawed wolf, and 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 still got the nerve to point his finger at other countries. You can't even get civil 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 rights legislation. And this man has got the nerve to stand up and talk about South Africa, 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 or talk about Nazi Germany, or talk about [unclear]. Nah, no more days like those. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 So, I say in my conclusion the only way we're going to solve it -- we gotta unite in unity 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 and harmony, and Black Nationalism is the key. How we gonna overcome the tendency to 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 be at each other's throats that always exists in our neighborhoods? And the reason this 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 tendency exists, the strategy of the white man has always been divide and conquer. He 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 keeps us divided in order to conquer us. He tells you I'm for separation and you're for 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 integration to keep us fighting with each other. No, I'm not for separation and you're 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 not for integration. What you and I is for is freedom. Only you think that integration 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 will get you freedom, I think separation will get me freedom. We both got the same objective. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 We just got different ways of getting at it. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 So I...studied this man, Billy Graham, who preaches White Nationalism. That's what he 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 preaches. I say that's what he preaches. The whole church structure in this country is 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 White Nationalism. You go inside a white church -- that's what they preaching: White Nationalism. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 They got Jesus white, Mary white, God white, everybody white -- that's White Nationalism. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 So what he does -- the way he -- the way he -- the way he circumvents the -- the jealousy 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 and envy that he ordinarily would incur among the heads of the church, wherever he go into 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 an area where the church already is you going into trouble, 'cause they got that thing 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 -- what you call it -- syndicated, they got a syndicate just like the Racketeers have. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 I'm going to say what's on my mind 'cause the churches are, the preachers already proved 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 to you that they got a syndicate. 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.340 And when you're out in the rackets, whenever you're getting in another man's territory, 0:53:30.090,0:53:30.440 you know, they gang up on you. And that's the same way with you -- you ran into the 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 same thing. So how Billy Graham gets around that, instead of going into somebody else's 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 territory, like he going to start up a new church, he don't -- he doesn't try to start 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 a church. He just goes in preaching Christ. And he says everybody who believe in Him, 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 you go wherever -- you go wherever you find him. So this helps all the churches and so 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 since it helps all the churches they don't fight him. 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 Well, we gonna do the same thing, only our gospel is Black Nationalism. His gospel is 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 White Nationalism; our gospel is Black Nationalism. And the gospel of Black Nationalism, as I 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 told you, means you should control your own -- the politics of your community, the economy 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 of your community, and all of the society in which you live should be under your control. 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 And...once you...feel that this philosophy will solve your problem, go join any church 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 where that's preached. Don't join a church where White Nationalism is preached. Now you 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 can go to a negro church and be exposed to White Nationalism, 'cause you are -- when 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 you walk in a negro church and a white Mary and some white angels -- that Negro church 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 is preaching White Nationalism. 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 But when you go to a church and you see the pastor of that church with a philosophy and 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 a program that's designed to bring black people together and elevate black people -- join 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 that church. Join that church. If you see where the NAACP is preaching and practicing 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 that which is designed to make Black Nationalism materialize -- join the NAACP. Join any kind 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 of organization -- civic, religious, fraternal, political, or otherwise that's based on lifting 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 the black man up and making him master of his own community. 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 It'll be -- It'll be the -- the ballot or it'll be the bullet. It'll be liberty or it'll 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 be death. And if you're not ready to pay that price don't use the word freedom in your vocabulary. 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 One more thing: I was on a program in Illinois recently with Senator Paul Douglas, a so-called 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 liberal, so-called Democrat, so-called white man, at... which time he told me that our 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 African brothers were not interested in us in Africa. He said the Africans are not interested 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 in the American Negro. I knew he was lying, but during the next two or three weeks it's 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 my intention and plan to make a tour of our African homeland. And I hope that when I come 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 back, I'll be able to come back and let you know how our African brothers and sisters 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 feel toward us. And I know before I go there that they love us. We're one; we're the same; 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 the same man who has colonized them all these years, colonized you and me too all these 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 years. And all we have to do now is wake up and work in unity and harmony and the battle 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 will be over. 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 I want to thank the Freedom Now Party and the [unclear]. I want to thank Milton and 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 Richard Henley for inviting me here this afternoon, and also Reverend Cleage. And I want them 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 to know that anything that I can ever do, at any time, to work with anybody in any kind 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 of program that is sincerely designed to eliminate the political, the economic, and the social 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 evils that confront all of our people, in Detroit and elsewhere, all they got to do 0:53:30.440,0:53:30.690 is give me a telephone call and I'll be on the next jet right on into the city.